leprechaun
Americannoun
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leprechauns
plural
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a dwarf or sprite.
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a conventionalized literary representation of this figure as a little old man who will reveal the location of a hidden crock of gold to anyone who catches him.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of leprechaun
1595–1605; < Irish leipreachán, lucharachán, MIr luchrapán, lupra ( c ) cán, metathesized forms of Old Irish lúchorp ( án ), equivalent to lú- small + corp body (< Latin corpus ) + -án diminutive suffix
Explanation
A leprechaun is a character in Irish folklore, a small fairy or sprite who wears green and has a sly sense of humor. A leprechaun is typically described as a short old man with a beard, usually wearing a green coat and hat. In Celtic or Irish mythology, leprechauns are shoemakers who store gold coins at the ends of rainbows and love practical jokes. The root of the word leprechaun is the Irish leipreachán, which comes from the Old Irish luchorpan, literally "a very small body."
Vocabulary lists containing leprechaun
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A Mythical Menagerie
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As Fintan O'Toole quipped recently in the Irish Times, his country "found the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow without even trying to catch the leprechaun."
From Salon ● Dec. 2, 2024
There’s probably a little leprechaun one for St. Patrick’s Day.
From Slate ● May 30, 2024
In drawings and paintings, Low imagines her mother as a gangster from a Jackie Chan film, or a leprechaun running around and hoarding a pile of toilet paper.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2022
The primary cast now includes Jane Fonda, who voices a pink dragon who can sniff out bad luck, and Whoopi Goldberg, who plays a droll leprechaun taskmaster.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2022
Even back in grade school when I cut up that leprechaun picture.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
Speaking of trillion-dollar leprechauns, you will hunt through all 545 pages in vain for those big “DOGE” savings you were promised.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
It is easy-breezy, light spirited — rainbows, leprechauns, good luck, good cheer — it is childlike in its commitment to being pure fun.
From Salon ● Mar. 12, 2024
Three years later came Crock of Gold, with its album cover featuring a painting by Shane MacGowan of leprechauns that resembled the demons that seemed to haunt him throughout his life.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2023
In Mayan culture, an aluxe is believed to be a mischievous elflike being that lives in the woods, a creature of folklore similar to leprechauns, unicorns, mermaids and the Loch Ness Monster.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2023
The leprechauns, who had risen angrily into the air like a swarm of glittering hornets when Mullet had been fouled, now darted together to form the words “HA, HA, HA!”
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
